Search Results (21)

This study focuses on the shift to a circular economy (CE) in the textile, apparel, and fashion (TAF) sectors, which generate tons of waste annually. Thus, embracing CE practices is essential for contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating PRISMA for systematic literature selection, BERTopic modeling and AI-driven SDG mapping, and case study analysis to explore emerging CE themes, implemented circular practices, and systemic barriers. Machine-learning-based SDG mapping reveals strong linkages to SDG 9 and SDG 12, emphasizing technological advancements, industrial collaborations, and circular business models. Moderately explored SDGs, namely, SDG 8, SDG 6, and SDG 7, highlight research on labor conditions, water conservation, and clean energy integration. Reviewing 655 peer-reviewed papers, the BERTopic modeling extracted six key themes, including sustainable recycling, circular business models, and consumer engagement, whereas case studies highlighted regulatory frameworks, stakeholder collaboration, and financial incentives as critical enablers. The findings advance institutional theory by demonstrating how certifications, material standards, and regulations drive CE adoption, reinforcing SDG 12 and SDG 16. The natural resource-based view is extended by showing that technological resources alone are insufficiently aligned with SDG 9. Using the Antecedents–Decisions–Outcomes framework, this study presents a structured, AI-driven roadmap for scaling CE in the TAF industry, addressing systemic barriers, and supporting global sustainability goals, highlighting how multistakeholder collaboration, digital traceability, and inclusive governance can improve the impact of CE. The results recommend that CE strategies should be aligned with net-zero targets, carbon credit systems, and block-chain-based supply chains. Full article

Overconsumption and unplanned disposal of garments result in millions of tons of textile products going to landfills. Understanding the environmental benefits and impact of various recycling options is crucial for integrating recycling into the apparel waste stream. This study aims to assess the environmental impacts of products made from post-consumer textile waste fibers, highlighting the importance of closed-loop textile supply chains in developing countries. Using Open LCA software, the cradle-to-gate approach for life cycle assessment is used to calculate the environmental impacts of post-consumer textile waste, virgin cotton, virgin polyester fibers, and their blends in two different scenarios. The life cycle inventory data for functional units (1000 kg apparel) has been collected from the industrial units and the Ecoinvent v3.0 database. The results of 16 environmental impact categories are computed, showing that textile products made from virgin cotton fiber have 60% more global warming potential than those made from post-consumer textile waste fibers. Hence, the environmental impact of textile products can be controlled by recycling them. Consumption of post-consumer textile waste fiber is the key to reducing the new material needs in the textile supply chain. The closed-loop apparel supply chain can help developing countries generate maximum financial value with minimal environmental damage. In developing countries, value extraction from post-consumer textile waste recycling is essential to meet international consumer demands for cleaner production. Full article

With the rise of the green economy and the increasing awareness of consumer sustainability, green marketing has become a global competition strategy adopted by the textile and apparel industry. This study explores key factors and challenges in green marketing to support the industry’s sustainable development. Using the PRISMA 2020 methodology, 54 studies were systematically reviewed to identify core themes: green marketing and branding, consumer behavior and green consumption, circular economy and sustainability, green supply chain management, and textile and fashion culture. The findings reveal that consumers’ understanding of green knowledge and corporate green branding strategies are key factors in the success of green marketing. This review integrates effective strategies for practitioners and new directions for future research. It also highlights the added value of green marketing in fostering sustainability and proposes a conceptual framework for industry application. By addressing gaps in existing research, this study provides actionable recommendations for bridging theory and practice in green marketing. Future research should investigate region-specific dynamics and further develop strategies to enhance the industry’s sustainability efforts. This work contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between green marketing and sustainable development in textiles and apparel. Full article

The textile and apparel industry is a major contributor to Latin American economies. However, in these economies the industry is characterized by limited technological infrastructure, which has led to inefficient performance and the significant generation of water, material, and product waste through its supply chain (SC). Currently, Industry 4.0 has led to important benefits in manufacturing industries, but its application in the textile field has been limited to few case studies. The present work expands on this aspect with a critical review of Industry 4.0 concepts and principles, and our main contribution consists of an implementation guideline model. The model was based on Six Sigma and the Rothwell and Zegveld model for continuous improvement and innovation projects in manufacturing and business enterprises. In each step, key aspects such as the specific skills of the interdisciplinary team, assessment tools, and implementation/prototyping tools are highlighted. A discussion of a case study is presented to support the applicability of the model for Industry 4.0 pilot projects. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has hugely affected the textile and apparel industry. Besides the negative impact due to supply chain disruptions, drop in demand, liquidity problems, and overstocking, this pandemic was found to be a window of opportunity since it accelerated the ongoing digitalization trends and the use of functional materials in the textile industry. This review paper covers the development of smart and advanced textiles that emerged as a response to the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. We extensively cover the advancements in developing smart textiles that enable monitoring and sensing through electrospun nanofibers and nanogenerators. Additionally, we focus on improving medical textiles mainly through enhanced antiviral capabilities, which play a crucial role in pandemic prevention, protection, and control. We summarize the challenges that arise from personal protective equipment (PPE) disposal and finally give an overview of new smart textile-based products that emerged in the markets related to the control and spread reduction of SARS-CoV-2. Full article

Background: This study presents a comprehensive review of blockchain technology with a sustainability orientation in supply chains and logistics. Methods: The publications are extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, comprising 552 publications between 2017 and 2022. Several bibliometric laws and techniques, namely three-field analysis, Bradford’s Law, Lotka’s Law, and thematic maps, are applied in R with the bibliometrix package. Content analysis is also carried out based on 185 publications to appreciate the industry-based view of the field. Results: The bibliometric results indicate that this field is on the rise. Authors, sources, affiliations, countries, keywords, and their relationships are also addressed. The findings of the content analysis and thematic maps reveal that some of the most highlighted themes in the literature include traceability, COVID-19, the internet of things, and Industry 4.0. The most popular industry in this field is discovered to be food and agriculture. Conclusions: This paper contributes to the still relatively scarce literature on how blockchain technology fosters sustainable supply chains and logistics, providing a closer look at blockchain use, methodologies, and future directions for different industries concerning food, agriculture, fashion, textile and apparel, manufacturing, automotive, maritime and shipping, healthcare and pharmaceutical, mining and mineral, and energy. Full article

The apparel and textile industry are known as a key sector in the structure of many economies around the world. In particular, the influence of foreign outsourcing manufacturers on textile supply chains has been recognized for decades. The outsourcing manufacturers are multi-criteria selected and changed by supply chain managers from time to time in search of the most efficient state for the entire supply chain. This is a known concern with the community and there is large interest in studying the apparel and textile outsourcing manufacturer problems. Aiming at reinforcing the selection methods, this study develops a three-layer fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making approach that leverages the strengths from the original methods. In turn through the layers, the hierarchy and weights of criteria and sub-criteria, which includes sustainability factors, are determined by the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method. Next, the results from the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) process determine the outsourcing manufacturer’s performance via expert linguistics judgments. Then, data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are applied for the purpose of evaluating the outsourcing manufacturer’s overall performance along with other quantitative effectiveness. This approach is applied to the problem of selecting the apparel and textile outsourcing manufacturers in Vietnam, one of the places that makes the necessity of this problem grow. The third position in the world apparel and textile export ranking, as well as the trend of shifting labor-intensive production systems to Southeast Asia make the necessity of Vietnam outsourcing manufacturer selection problem grow. The results of this study also classified manufacturers into groups as a support for selection decisions. Analysis of quantitative uncertainties using simulation tools and forecasting techniques can strengthen the solutions in future related studies. Full article

Supply chain traceability is a dominant concern for many industries, regulators, and policymakers. In the textile and apparel industries, social, environmental, and sustainability issues are frequent causes for concern, highlighting the need for effective traceability solutions. Blockchain technology has characteristics that make it attractive for supply chain traceability applications. However, the literature lacks discussion of empirical cases. We discuss current blockchain applications in the textile and apparel industries and analyze an exemplar of a prominent blockchain traceability solution adopted by a world-leading fiber producer, the Lenzing group. In this study, we identify two related objectives for traceability-product authentication and supply chain sustainability. The case study analysis has stimulated a rich discussion about the different levels of traceability achievable across the supply chain, the digital identification of products, and the extension of blockchain solutions across the whole supply network. Significant technical and business challenges exist in extending traceability to the upstream raw material supply chain and to the dispersed garment manufacturing networks downstream. More broadly, the study highlights the need to (1) clarify the objectives of a traceability initiative, and (2) scope a traceability solution appropriately, both horizontally across the supply chain and vertically with respect to the granularity of the items traced. Full article

Against the backdrop of globalization and trade facilitation, the products consumed by a country are more and more relying on the importation of those products from other countries. Therefore, the pollutant emissions of products associated are transferred from consuming countries to exporting countries, which significantly changes the spatial distribution of global pollutant emissions. The objective of this research is to analyse the embodied nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions in the trading process between China and the European Union (EU) and to further trace the interindustry and intercountry transfer paths. This study constructs a multiregional input–output (MRIO) model based on the latest EORA global supply chain database. The MRIO model quantitatively analyses the total NO_x emissions from the production and consumption ends of China and the EU from 1995 to 2014. Important findings are derived from the empirical results as follows. (1) In 2014, China’s production end emissions were 1824.38 kilotons higher than those of the consumption end. By contrast, the situation in the EU was the opposite, i.e., production end emissions were 1711.97 kilotons lower than those of the consumption end. (2) In the trade between China and the EU, the EU is a net importer of embodied NO_x, and China is a net exporter of embodied NO_x. In 2014, 2.55% of China’s domestic NO_x emissions were transferred to the EU in China-EU trade, accounting for 2.75% of China’s domestic consumption demand. (3) In 2014, Electricity, Gas and Water (397.75 kilotons), Transport (343.55 kilotons), Petroleum, Chemical and non-metallic Products (95.9 kilotons), Metal Products (49.88 kilotons), Textiles and Apparel (26.19 kilotons), are among the industries with the most embodied NOx emissions from China’s net exports during its two-way trade with the EU. (4) In the bilateral trade between the EU and China, many countries are in the state of embodied NO_x net import. The top three net importers in 2014 were Germany (169.24 kilotons), Britain (128.11 kilotons), France (103.21 kilotons). Full article

The proposed study deals with sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in the textile and apparel (T&A) industry. We analyze prerequisites and practices of supply chain (SC) sustainability in a multiple case study of the German and Ethiopian T&A industry. Our analysis is based on ten semi-structured interviews conducted with the managers of seven companies in the Ethiopian T&A production and the German fair fashion retail industries. The contribution of expert knowledge helps in identifying SC sustainability prerequisites and practices. The chosen cases of production in Ethiopia and retail in Germany highlight the complexity of T&A SCs while representing both the suppliers’ and retailers’ perspectives, which is rare in the related literature. As a major research contribution, the study adapts a framework for SC sustainability in the chemical industry and transfers it to T&A SCs. Moreover, practitioners from the T&A industry find useful insights into relevant practices and their prerequisites, which helps in improving SC sustainability in this sector. The study reveals that management orientation and interest groups such as customers represent the most important prerequisites for sustainability. Manufacturers rely more on internal practices such as monitoring, while retailers focus on external sustainability practices, such as supplier development. In a comparative approach, similarities and differences between T&A SCs and the chemical industry are identified. Full article

Traceability and monitoring of industrial processes are becoming more important to assure the value of final products. Blockchain technology emerged as part of a movement linked to criptocurrencies and the Internet of Things, providing nice-to-have features such as traceability, authenticity and security to sectors willing to use this technology. In the retail industry, blockchain offers users the possibility to monitor details about time and place of elaboration, the origin of raw materials, the quality of materials involved in the manufacturing processes, information on the people or companies that work on it, etc. It allows to control and monitor textile articles, from their production or importing initial steps, up to their acquisition by the end consumer, using the blockchain as a means of tracking and identification during the whole process. This technology can also be used by the apparel industry in general and, more specifically, for ready-to-wear clothing, for tracing suppliers and customers along the entire logistics chain. The goal of this paper is to introduce the more recent traceability schemes for the apparel industry together with the proposal of a framework for ready-to-wear clothing which allows to ensure the transparency in the supply chain, clothing authenticity, reliability and integrity, and validity of the retail final products, and of the elements that compose the whole supply chain. In order to illustrate the proposal, a case study on a women’s shirt from an apparel and fashion company, where a private and open blockchain is used for tracing the product, is included. Blockchain actors are proposed for each product stage. Full article

The motivations for clothing companies to implement dedicated certification schemes as sustainability practices has received limited attention in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) research so far. Therefore, it is important to understand how different rationales for the implementation of certification schemes have developed in the past because they considerably influence the overall success of sustainability management efforts. This paper picks up on this gap and presents the results of an in-depth comparative case study drawing on interviews conducted with five managers of three companies from the clothing sector in 2018 and abductive content analysis. By applying such a qualitative approach, this study explores motivations and benefits as well as elaborates on the implementation of certification schemes in apparel supply chains. It outlines that certification in the clothing sector is driven by strategic factors, marketing considerations, and information considering sustainability aspects. The study also shows that certification schemes may strengthen the marketing and competitive position of clothing companies as well as sustainability awareness in textile and apparel supply chains in general. Finally, a framework conceptualized from the findings of the interviews presents relevant SSCM practices in the clothing industry. Therefore, the present study contributes to theory building in SSCM by confirming and extending previous research on the implementation of certification schemes for sustainability, as well as to practice by examining reasons to apply certification schemes and potential performance outcomes. Full article

Prior literature on a two-level supply chain has mainly focused on the game between one manufacturer and one supplier. Exploring group game behavior in a green supply chain (GSC), our research develops and studies a sequential GSC game model consisting of a single manufacturer and three suppliers based on the characteristics of the textile and apparel industry clusters. In our GSC model, the manufacturer is the leader of the supply chain and the suppliers are either homogeneous or complementary. Through equilibrium analysis, we identify critical conditions that influence the behavior of the manufacturer and suppliers to improve the green investment in the supply chain. Our study provides a theoretical basis and a decision-making reference for promoting the cooperation in GSCs and improving the performance of the government’s environmental policies. Full article

This study presents the need for moral development education of current and future professionals so they can help build sustainable companies and global supply chains. Grounded in Ha-Brookshire’s moral responsibility theory of corporate sustainability, the authors explored a set of real-life business situations where business professionals experienced morally challenging dilemmas. The study was conducted within the context of the textile and apparel (TA) industry because of the global and fragmented supply chain nature of the industry. The real-life business situations were interpreted using Kohlberg’s moral development stage theory. The results of in-depth individual interviews followed by three focus groups of industry professionals in spring 2017 showed that participants have experienced a variety of morally challenging business situations throughout their careers. This includes simple problems at the individual and firm levels, as well as wicked and complex problems at the industry and global levels. The study concludes that for TA businesses to be truly sustainable, professionals’ moral ability is critical and, therefore, appropriate moral development education is necessary. Full article

Incorporating sustainability into the supply chain is becoming a key priority for many textile and apparel companies. For example, H&M, Patagonia, and The North Face have incorporated various approaches to enhance their levels of sustainable supply chain management. Typical approaches include sustainable product strategy, sustainable investment, sustainable performance evaluation, corporate social responsibility, and environmental management system adoption, which contribute to the development of sustainable supply chain management in the textile and apparel industry. In this paper, we introduce the fifteen articles published in this special issue, and summarize the key findings and future research directions in the area of textile and apparel sustainable supply chain management. Full article